Morocco has created four new institutes to work on artificial intelligence, education, industry and smart cities. The government published the agreements creating the four public interest groups in the Official Gazette. All four carry the name “Jazari”. The institutes are the Jazari Core Institute, Jazari Institute for Education and Technological Innovation, Jazari Industry X.0 Institute and Jazari Smart City Institute.
The institutes will support the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy and the Morocco AI 2030 plan, which aims to develop AI technologies in the country.
What will the institutes do?
The Jazari Core Institute will focus on AI research, training and technology. Its work will cover data centres, high-performance computing, digital storage and sovereign AI systems.
The institute will also train AI specialists and develop technology that can improve public services and government work.
The Jazari Institute for Education and Technological Innovation will work on digital tools for schools and universities. Its projects will include AI-based learning systems, teacher training and new skills for students.
The Jazari Industry X.0 Institute will help factories use AI, automation and other digital technologies.
Its work will also focus on turning research into products and services that can be used by Moroccan companies and improving the competitiveness of goods made in Morocco.
The Jazari Smart City Institute will develop digital tools for cities.
Its work will include online public services, better use of resources, data-based urban planning and the protection of urban data.
The four institutes are part of a wider government plan to build AI and digital infrastructure.
A planned data centre in Dakhla, called Igoudar Numérique, is expected to have a capacity of 500 megawatts and run on renewable energy.
A sovereign cloud system in Rabat will host sensitive government data, algorithms and public records.
Oracle already operates public cloud regions in Casablanca and Settat. Other technology companies, including Nvidia, Huawei, Mistral AI and Vertiv, have also signed partnerships linked to AI and digital infrastructure.
The government has also created a National Data Factory to organise public-sector data and a National Software Forge to support the development and sharing of software and algorithms.
The four institutes take their name from Badi al-Zaman Abu al-Izz Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, a 12th-century engineer known for his work on mechanical devices and early robots.
The government expects AI adoption, digital infrastructure and technology services to add about $10bn to GDP by 2030.
The first regional centre of excellence has already been set up in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region.
